by Christopher Sanchez
Daily Lobo
About 1,200 Albuquerque residents marched Downtown on Saturday to celebrate the birthday of civil rights leader CÇsar Ch†vez and to support social justice for immigrants.
Ch†vez fought for migrant farm worker rights by using nonviolent principles. The city of Albuquerque has celebrated Ch†vez's birthday since his death in 1993.
Former UNM professor Eduardo Hern†ndez Chavez said he attends the event every year.
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"He was a great man, a great civil rights leader and a great Chicano," Hern†ndez Chavez said.
The event began as a march from Martinez Town Park and ended at Civic Plaza with entertainment and speakers.
While some people celebrated the life of Ch†vez, others expressed their opposition to proposed immigration laws.
The celebration's theme, "Social Justice for Immigrants," was expected to attract more people to the event, said Michael Casaus, an organizer of the event.
Casaus said immigration is always a part of the event's theme, but he expected the theme to resonate this year.
"It has become even more timely than we expected, with the anti-immigrant legislation in the Congress," Casaus said.
Thousands of demonstrators have poured into the streets throughout the United States since the House of Representatives passed House Bill 4437 in December. If passed by the Senate, the bill would make it a felony to be an illegal immigrant or to harbor an undocumented immigrant.
Casaus said Ch†vez wouldn't have tolerated such a bill.
"If he were alive today, I'm sure he'd be at the front lines of this immigrants' rights struggle," he said.
TVI student Octavio Ayala said he attended the event to support equal rights for Mexican-Americans and illegal immigrants.
"We're a nation built on immigrants," Ayala said.
UNM law student Connie Quintero said the march would make the immigration issue larger in New Mexico. Quintero said she attended the rally to oppose the House bill.
"We're not here to represent strangers, but family," Quintero said. "Everyone here is affected some way or another."
Albuquerque resident Jamie Escobar said immigrants are left in the shadows of society. Escobar said he wanted the march to open people's eyes.
"Hopefully some people will notice that we are not only the leaf blowers or the dishwashers, but we are people, too, with rich culture," Escobar said.
Albuquerque resident Sergio Guerrero waved a Mexican flag to represent where he comes from. Guerrero said he didn't care what people thought about him waving the flag.
"It's their opinion," he said. "Everyone has an opinion."
He joined the march to support everyone, he said.
"I'm out here to support all races of all colors," Guerrero said.
Finnie Coleman, director of African American Studies, spoke to the crowd at Civic Plaza.
"The national legislation being pushed through to criminalize hardworking people doesn't seem to be constitutional," he said.
Coleman compared the legislation to fugitive slave laws that were statutes before the Civil War. The laws called for runaway slaves to be returned to the state they had escaped from.
"There is a warning to be had," he said. "Let legislators know last time we found ourselves in a civil war."
Albuquerque Mayor Martin Ch†vez also attended the event and announced he will be proposing a gradual minimum wage hike to $7.15 per hour. The minimum wage is $5.15 per hour.
